Report: Fla. purges war-hero voter

A 91-year-old who received a Bronze Star for fighting in the Battle of the Bulge was reportedly told he may not be an American citizen, in an apparent mix-up due to Florida’s attempts to purge noncitizens from its voter rolls.

Bill Internicola received a letter this month stating that he had to prove he was a citizen or lose his right to vote, reports the Miami Herald.

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Internicola, it appears, was caught up in Gov. Rick Scott’s statewide attempt to clear noncitizens from voter registration rolls before the election this November.

The Broward County Board of Supervisors said in the letter to Internicola that it had obtained “information from the State of Florida that you are not a United States citizen; however you are registered to vote.”

Internicola was “flabbergasted” when he received the letter, he said at a press conference where he was joined by two Democratic members of Congress. Democrats allege that the initiative is “misguided” and suggest that the governor is trying to remove legal voters from registration rolls before the presidential elections.

The WWII veteran has since proven to the state that he is in fact a citizen.

The state Division of Elections identified approximately 180,000 potential noncitizens from Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. This was later narrowed down to more than 2,600 names, which were passed onto counties for verification, according to the Miami Herald.

The newspaper’s analysis shows that the list of names targeted for possible removal is dominated by Hispanics, Democrats and independents.